Cold Fusion: Fire From Water

This definitive television and home video documentary explores the reemergence of one of the most important scientific discoveries in history. Cold Fusion burst onto the world scene in 1989 with a press conference at the University of Utah--ironically less than 12 hours before the Exxon Valdez disaster. This much maligned, yet now confirmed discovery may very well radically change the energy structure of civilization in the 21st century. It is already challenging our understanding of the very nature of matter.

Together with Cold Fusion Technology, Inc. of New Hampshire, Free Spirit Productions produced this one-hour program made-for-digital wide screen television and it has aired on several PBS stations and in Europe. This program details the true story of the discovery and the scientific quest for an explanation and validation in the academic community. Hundreds of scientists and engineers worldwide are detecting verified, repeatable, yet unexplainable phenomena that clearly show a powerful source of energy within water. Intense energy releases from an expanding variety of experiments and prototype commercial technologies is examined.

Also established are transmutations of heavy elements - a form of "modern alchemy" that still cannot be explained within the framework of presently understood physics. Perhaps new physics will have to be developed to deal with all of this, but even without a firm understanding of the physics, technological development of Cold Fusion is well underway, as this documentary illustrates.

Don't blame the receipe, maybe the cook is the problem.
Anyone can make an omlet for breakfast. But, someone who knows their way about the kitchen can create a souffle.

Perhaps an enzyme would help the elusive proceedure along, or maybe it is as simple as creating a delicate surface structure, or in other words 'just whip it'. Natures mysterious phenomina of centricity.

cdk

@An Ape:

Since the results are not replicable in all details, you're right, it's not science. However, you can't argue that it is science fiction as clearly something we yet do not understand is going on.

allMANkind /Pär

to me the ape seems like a pro stand up comedian. For an ape the statement is pretty ..well ..like a human (static) thought in (an anti)progress of state as of "lets die if the world changes".

Seems funny to me that a real ape probably would be more alive and humurous plus in the state and flow with the pulsing reality.. ..though, who am I to speak - as a non stand up'er..

blahface

What if water does actually have memory? could what is remembered in a particular bit of water be helping towards those findings? It might explain why the results are so varied

go2mark

fantastic doc, kudos to science. I like the fact that the originators of this technology were
challenged and yet the collective appetite of curious minds overcame the doubts and persevered. Open mindedness shall overcome the limited creativeness of those solely
concerned about the preservation of their tenure. More power to the psychopath in all of us.

Flannigan

First of all, does it not look like somebody's putting a gun to Scotty's head when he's giving his on-camera narrative? I feel bad that crack fusion researchers kidnapped him and made him narrate their propaganda piece.

No but seriously, replicatibility is a feature of "smooth" systems, is it not? There has to be a margin of error, and within that margin you expect something like a normal distribution of variance.

I think what we've got going here is thermodynamic chaos. And if I'm right, no amount of scientific rigor will produce conventionally scientifically acceptable replication results. I don't know, maybe space is folding in on itself or something. In any case let's pull the broomstick out and start thinking a little looser. Criminy.

s3tione

It's strange that this is under the category "science", but the channel which carries this video on youtube is called "paranormal tv," hardly the bastion of critical scientific thought.

Nuclear Fusion is incredibly difficult, and may be beyond our reach for generations. But Cold Fusion is bunk. Period.

Farren

"Fortuitous or not, in the first experiment that we ran, some three of four months after the initial announcement, we saw some evidence of excess heat, which has really sustained me ever since.

Having seen the effect with my own eyes, the claims from a few that this is impossible...inconsistent with all known laws of nuclear physics...these suggestions are in fact irrelevant. There is no theoretical object to cold fusion...it's just unlikely given our experience with hot fusion."

Farren

It's really interesting to read the naysayers in these comments. They either haven't watched the whole video, or their minds are so closed that it would never matter if cold fusion were real anyway.

The same exact kind of personalities that in the past, couldn't be bothered with the fact that we weren't the center of the universe, or that the Earth was round, or that there was more to reality than Newtonian physics.

"The limits of the possible can only be defined by going beyond them into the impossible."
-- Arthur C. Clarke

A Physicist Wannabe

I cannot stop thinking about the resemblence of this debate with the one Niels Bohr (futurist) had with Einstein(conservative) about the fundamental equations that described the atom.

Most of the scientific comunity was at first against Niels Bohr's "monstrous equations" that revolutionized nuclear physics at that time.

I cannot understand how can anyone completely deny the possibility that cold fusion might actually be possible and within our grasp.

I cannot find a better statement than this one to make my case:

"When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right; when he states that something is impossible, he is probably wrong." Arthur C. Clarke

adrianxw

I am concerned by both hot and cold fusion.

Hydrogen is vital for life, (think H2O or CH4 to get you going), yet here are people keen to turn it into "useless" Helium.

Sure, there is a lot of it around, and in these early days, an "inexhaustable" supply, but how many times in the past, or today even, has that been shown to be false.

mrSpock

Who's idea was it to have Scotty narrate this? I'm a big fan of ST, but his delivery and inflection were as dry as the Sahara. I could barely finish watching. Like fingernails on a chalkboard.

Oh wait, I get it: ST = future, Scotty = engineer = scientist. Shouldn't he be in a pub somewhere throwing darts by now? I wish someone had beamed him out of this documentary!

Furious_Joegan

The universe is full of Hydrogen, its not just on earth. Lrn2science.

Rich

If you believe this, you are a dreamer.

The fact that this SIMPLE experiment is so non-reproducible clearly defines it as bad science. And that nothing has come of it in 22 years is more proof.

If the Prima Donna Fleischmann and his colleague Pons really had something going with this self funded publicity stunt, they would have made a product on their own tab in a garage.

Fusion is real. We see it everyday from the sun. The problem it that it's hot. To make it work for an energy source, we need to control hot fusion.

All the excess stuff from Doohan is simple incorrect facts. There is power put into that system with electric current, thus, you will have a temperature rise.

Oh yes, lets make it all a conspiracy that the other results such as MIT were manipulated to make the F-P results look wrong. Please!

Colin Law

Just because the sun is doing hot fusion, does not mean that cold fusion isn't possible. Wake up man..

oklima

Haha! I agree, but you are confused...it's not Scotty! It's obviously a native American indian.

Sorin Stefanescu

I get "This video is private". Please fix it.

Craigzz

It is obvious to me that what is going on here is related to palladiums remarkable ability to absorb 900 times its volume in hydrogen, along with deuterium heavy water, and a small heat source, they are getting what appears to be 'excess heat' once out of every several attempts. What they fail to realise is that the excess energy is coming from the failed attempts, as it is being stored in the palladium. What is interesting about this is the mechanism by which palladium is storing and releasing energy in the form of hydrogen, although its known to be a reversible process, its possibly causing a release of Tritium, again interesting, and clearly formed from the palladium. but unfortunately, there is no excess energy here. Science does not appear to have a good understanding of the metal palladium, it clearly holds secrets.

Not that hot fusion scientists should be laughing, you guys have spent 40-50 billion, and come up with nothing more than the Russians did decades ago.

0xDeadBeef

The clearest point to me is that this very doc is 12 years old. Back in the day, I won a $10 bet against this clap-trap. Easy money!!

Iowcatalyst Woody

Please remove this from the science section

kim holder

holy ****, does this site do any quality control at all?

John Bovay

If developed and implemented on a commercial basis the nascent technology described in this documentary threatens, to one degree or another, the bottom lines of: big oil, big nuclear, the military-industrial complex, and the international banking cartel which profits from crippling war debts racked up by nations that commit murder to control sources of fossil fuels.

Clearly this 'Cold Fusion' must be maligned and marginalized at every opportunity in order to dissuade casual observers from investigating the evidence prior to forming a conclusion.

Matt Kukowski

solar, wave and wind are the future. Fusion (hot fusion) if done will be a miracle... but is far far from reality.

So, photoelectric paints, solar panels, store the power using Molten Salt when at night... Big oil killed the electric car and is trying to stiffle solar... but big oil's time is running out.

Joseph Three

15 years later, still no commercial applications, how would have thunk

morgancollins

Great documentary! Most of the noise makers here are Brainless,short sighted Americans who support big oil and quick profit..........Clean energy like Cold fusion is possible and we are getting there.

Gordon Adams

Whatever dubious merit this doc might have had was sucked out of it by the droning, broken zombie-voice of 'scotty.' Worst. Narration. EVER.

Atescoop

For real, put it in a new category, "Fictional Documentaries"

Tactician

There is a working hot fusion plant in Germany right now that is producing more energy output then that what is input. It is by a very minuscule amount, but it is the first breakthrough ever that does this. They said they will have the plant online producing usable energy ib two-three years, of course small amounts to start. If interested, do a search and some research.

IBinvDHSUSA

Curious discussion. A Cold fusion electrical plant has been functional in Greece for over three years. Many demonstrations have been given for all to review and many who have seen the latest demonstration feel there is a useful amount of anomalous increase in temperature for small scale applications. I think the scientific community is unwilling to accept the process as science because fusion formulas do not make sense when applied to the process. Try looking at this as a mini-collider because that is how the process appears to be taking place, at least with the nickle-hydrogen cells. The anomalous heat gain is only apparent with properly prepared samples of metal and producing high velocity movement of pure hydrogen over the surface of nickel by properly timed sparks and heat introduction. (No it will not explode because it is lacking oxygen) Using an Audrino timing program operating two opposing sparks it is possible to excite the hydrogen at a great velocity across the metal surface removing the electron mechanically (much like Proton Exchange Membranes do), then colliding two protons together causes the heat. Commercial applications are being held back in the US by the patent office and the underwriters, but the research in China and some parts of Europe are a little too promising. It is a disservice to the US to discredit cold fusion. How can you say it isn't real?! You can do this in your garage for crying out loud!

markTttt

Like all alternative technologies it will go nowhere because it does not make big bucks for the people in power.(Big oil etc)
Come up with a golden goose like oil that is enviroment friendly and you maybe in with a chance good luck I wont hold my breath.

markTttt

Untill somebody comes up with an idea that makes big bucks like oil but is enviromentaly safe all these green ideas will go no where.
The ultimate power is money solve this problem and you will be amazed how fast things move.
cold fusion, thorium plasma batteries,The electric car possibly the water powered engine all have the same problem they threaten big money so they end up going nowhere and sometimes the inventors have terrible accidents.

david johnson

If you can't put a meter on it, Rich people can not make money or tax it.
So Sad

awful_truth

@Rich: After reading your comment regarding cold fusion, you should be aware that it is common knowledge that MIT doctored their results. This was reported years ago, and was part of a NOVA special back then as well. When considering funding for scientific research, and the impact on the oil industry, whether you agree with the concept of cold fusion is irrelevant. The reality of power and money rule the day!

awful_truth

An excellent documentary regardless of what the nay sayers think. Those who think politics and money don't rule the day (regarding truth in the scientfic community) are deluding themselves. I was happy to see once again (also in a NOVA special) that it was confirmed that MIT doctored their results. (as usual, people need to ask why they did it to begin with???)
Pons and Fleischmann have long since been vindicated, just not in the scientific community. Furthermore, it helped science update Niels Bohr's atomic structure where the electron in the hydrogen atom was in a tighter orbit than originally thought. Without any recognition for their achievement, these individuals had to go to France, and be funded by Toyota to continue their research, after being drummed out of the scientific community. This is confirmation for those who rely soley on scientific proof to defends one's entrenched position, will soon become obsolete, and their faith in so called scientific fact is misguided. (1 dimensional thinking disregarding the fact that faith in morality has not kept pace with advances in technology - evil/greed is running the world)
In reality, better energy technology will never get a foothold in modern society until those who own the oil industry have taken their oil profits, and purchased all other forms of corporate energy distribution. Ergo, turn the page, and welcome to a smoggy tomorrow!

Jatinder Sehgal

Then what do you think of the transmuted elements that seem to crop up in the experiments?

texastea2

I still say it is absolutely impossible to get more energy out than put in. If it appears like you have gotten more energy out than that which is put in. You probably do not fully understand the energy being put in.

texastea2

However even the sun cannot put out more energy than put in.
What we call heat is actually a measurement of motion.The more something moves the more "heat" created. When atom get excited they move faster which in turn creates heat. It is simply impossible to move atoms faster and keep the same temp.

texastea2

I thought it was a Frernchman. Ps What exactly is a Native American Indian? Do you mean a Native American. We all had names there were MANY what the Europeans would call COUNTRIES in America. Nations. My ancestors called themselves lakota NOT Indian nor Native American.We used to have names

texastea2

You do know that without helium first there is NO oxygen for instance or any other elements heavier. I would hardly call Helium "useless"

texastea2

That makes your case? WTH? Please tell me just how you plan on speeding up atoms without creating what we call HEAT. Read up on heat What is ABSOLUTE zero temperature and why is the universe not that cold? what causes this "heat"? What is "heat"?
Why does the statement from A.C Clarke make your case? Because A.C said so? If someone states that it is possible he is probably right. WHY? Why is he probably right. Probably is a pretty much useless word other than guessing probability.
What makes something Probably possible? As opposed to what would make something Probably impossible.
Do you think it is possible for me to get up and run straight into a train traveling at 100 MPH and let the train pass through me? Not in some future not in some other dimension no other NOTHING. Just a human TODAY running into a moving train and the train passing right through him.
If we did this to every single human alive and you watch every single one of them splatter onto the train and ground,do you think by the time we got to the 4 billionth one you might finally think it an IMPOSSIBLE task? Or at least a Probably impossible task?

texastea2

true that but as we understand matter today good luck with this cold fusion. If if can be done and I have seen absolutely nothing to even give me a dash of hope that it is possible,it will not happen for at least 1000 years. I gamble a little and I would bet that in 10,000 years cold fusion is still not happening.
It is not rocket science. Movement is HEAT the faster something moves the MORE heat produced. Are they going to somehow get atom to slow down into a lesser state of energy and somehow get it to do what it cannot do on it's own and that is SLOW DOWN into a HIGHER state of energy.

All I can say is at this time even if for some reason beyond my comprehension people think that they can acheive such an illogical concept good luck but stop spending the PEOPLES money on such foolishness. We do not need cold fusion. What we need to do is figure out how to use the hydrogen that is EVERYWHERE and not just here on this rock. This planet is a big ball of hydrogen just waiting to be used for energy NOT A FRICKIN DUMP.

texastea2

a catylistic fusion perhaps. I t was a horrible documentary. Too much jabbering and not enough science.I do not buy it something else is going on.

All we really need to do is figure out how to cheaply / efficiently extract the hydrogen from water. Do that and we will be good to go for centuries.

texastea2

Just not in the scientific community. Faith in Morality! The oil companies have NOTHING to do with it. Do you honestly believe that a university or company would not produce an energy that would obviously soon be the energy of the world. You think they would just tell the oil companies we have something worth trillions of dollars but we will wait 500 years for you good ole boys to run out of fossils.
Not likely. You could put all the pressure you want on them. You said it yourself greed is powerful. Yet these people are just going to kindly wait till the earth runs out of fossils or dies from pollution? What pressure from Government, OIL whoever would stop something like this? Not on this earth with this society.

texastea2

The real problem they have is efficiency and infrastructure. The reason there is no cold fusion is because it cannot be done.Heat seems to be the mode of transportation for energy. Anything that moves and as far as I am aware there is no matter which does not move. Movement creates heat PERIOD.Without heat energy cannot travel.
Besides what is stopping them from making money. Remember IDIOTS pay 16 dollars for a gallon of water that all of us citizens sold to nestle or coca cola for a penny on the TEN dollars. They could easily make trillions off of this. You ever hear of patents. If not Google Monsanto. Apparently a company can own food, seeds Genes. Logically water will be next. They will modify the water and patent it and the US Government crooks will OKAY IT.

texastea2

There is NO cold fusion plant in GREECE. Ridiculous. If all one wants to do is increase temperature all one has to do (in fact the only way to do it) is to move the molecules or atoms or whatever one is trying to heat-up.
If it is a workable electrical plant going on 4 years why does the Government not scale it up or ANY POWER Company. More than likely it is because IT DOES NOT WORK.
Am I mistaken or Hydrogen does not need oxygen to burn explode or anything.
The "heat" is simply caused by the velocity of the atoms increase movement ,increase heat.

texastea2

I am sure "Scotty" and the rest of the crew wish you would have narrated it with your Angelic voice.

texastea2

It's your story. Seems funny 26 years later still NOTHING!!!!

texastea2

I believe we are up to 26 years later now. Still not a peep. Strange isn't it.LOL

texastea2

The so called Technology is now 26 years old and still as illogical as ever.

texastea2

Claims from a FEW? an awful lot of Fews out here 26 years and counting. ( just to clarify) If you were a 25 year old student in 1989 you would you would be well beyond middle age in your 50's now and guess what? Still NOTHINGGGG

texastea2

at one time it was categorized under conspiracy on this channel.

terencegalland

How they gonna tax free god given energy,is this why there is a delay in implementation so they can think about it for a few decades.

evenhim

Can't starve the middle east of their only source of income. It's just asking for war.

mike jarvis

"Can't starve the middle east of their only source of income"....... really? So tell us what happens when those resources run out and or technology provides an alternative to fossil fuels?

evenhim

Ask them. They are trying to prepare for just that.

Kenneth Kelly

Cold fusion from water???? NO that is not possible at this time and may never be possible. At the soonest it will be at least another 100 years. The program is BS

Terrymac

Nonsense. Pure nonsense. Cold fusion HAS NOT been vindicated in any sense whatsoever! And the idea that scientists would suppress a technology that could save the world, make them world famous AND make them mega rich, is truly absurd. And as for relying on scientific proof, well exactly what kind of proof SHOULD one rely on if not scientific proof?

w hendricso

It is clear there is some type of phenomenon occurring which produces energy. Whether "academia" likes it or not is essentially irrelevant. What matters is that people are working on producing more reliable reactions and refining the data. Over time, this will yield a new (exciting!) technology.

awful_truth

I did not say that 'cold fusion' was real, or vindicated. You might wish to read comments more closely before passing judgement. With that said, do you honestly believe scientists are in charge of anything? (show me a rich scientist) These people work for wealthy people, and they can scream all they want, but they are not in charge of the money, or the media.
A good example is LFTR technology, (liquid fluoride thorium reactors) which were designed by the same people that created standard nuclear reactors. The problem is that they didn't produce a plutonium by-product for the war machine. They were a 100 times more efficient, with no risk of meltdown. There is a 100 times more thorium then uranium on the planet, yet isn't it funny (not really) how they have not yet caught on, nor are not funded even though the technology has been around for 60 years.
It would appear that you have not yet been exposed to the world of global economics, or have yet to realize that greed/evil is running the world. Until this construct (global pyramid scheme) is changed, the wealthy have no intention in changing the status quo, and are not interested in supporting better technology until they own the rights to it. Nicolai Tesla is the best example, (a genius burned by Edison, Westinghouse, etc, etc) But hey, don't take my word for it, research it yourself. Then you come back and we will discuss the reality of what is really 'nonsense'! Take care Terrymac, and best wishes.

awful_truth

A short time after this incident, it was discovered that they were getting higher energy output due to a flaw in Niels Bohr's hydrogen atom, where the electron was in a tighter orbit then previously thought. Instead of Pons and Fleischmann getting recognition for this 'improvement', in atomic knowledge, they were belittled in the scientific community with the help of MIT who doctored their own results which actually confirmed their discovery. Both men ended up outside the U.S working on hydrogen fuel cell technology.
I thought you might find this interesting! Take care.

w hendricso

Yes! Very interesting. Thanks for the info :)

MIT is not as friendly to new ideas as they would like everyone to believe, just take the Aaron Swartz tragedy into account.

The real problem is not controversial ideas, but how we as a society treat those with new ideas.

awful_truth

I couldn't have said it any better my self. (good job) Best wishes to you.

Barry Kort

A few years ago, I followed up on the CBS News 60 Minutes episode that took a look at Mike McKubre's device at SRI.

In that program, Richard Garwin pointed to a problem with the way McKubre was computing the incoming electrical energy. I followed up with Rob Duncan to model the AC energy component that McKubre had omitted from his energy budget model (claiming it was theoretically zero).

Picking up where Garwin left off, I applied an elementary model (from 2nd year electrical engineering) to estimate the AC energy arising from a time-varying resistive load. This is the same model as we have long used in telephony, where a constant current power source is applied to a carbon button (variable resistance) microphone, thus producing a small AC signal that rides on top of the constant current DC drive circuit. My calculations revealed that the small excess heat (about 3%) reported by McKubre exactly corresponded to the omitted AC power term from his energy budget model.